


Yours Now for Just 5 Gil

by tyrannosaurus_rose



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Aer/Seph Romance, Aer/Zack Established Relationship, Awkward Conversations, Awkward Dates, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Sexual Situations, Cheating, F/M, Flowers, Seph/Zack Bromance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-09 05:29:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11662587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tyrannosaurus_rose/pseuds/tyrannosaurus_rose
Summary: For the prompt, "Two people notice each other across a great distance and keep having sightings and near encounters until they finally officially meet."Sparks might fly.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ardwynna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ardwynna/gifts).



For a girl who was constantly under watch by the ShinRa, Aeris reflected, she certainly was given plenty of leeway to wander about the slums. Sometimes she wondered if she should be grateful, but of course that was ridiculous. She would be grateful when they left her alone.

Of course, living in Midgar, it was impossible to escape the shadow of the ShinRa Company. Under the plate, of course, there was the constant weight of the plate reminding everyone of their lofty overlords. Above it, the shiny ShinRa logo was emblazoned on every surface, an ever-present reminder. That logo made its way below the plate as well, on discarded junk and trash tossed away for the slum residents to sift through; and as if that weren’t enough, there were all of those posters.

Aeris scowled as she passed another wall papered in them on her way home. What was the world coming to when a girl couldn’t even go shopping in peace? It was her opinion that the ShinRa had done just about enough to destroy the lives of the people living below the plate without constantly campaigning to steal more of their young folk away for a short life of wasted dreams and squandered opportunity.

Not that she was bitter or anything.

This particular wall was even more obnoxious than most. All of the recruitment posters showed the same face, over and over again: that abomination of a man, the propaganda hero, ShinRa’s darling silver general. Sephiroth. Aeris considered smearing some of her newly purchased fertilizer over his impossibly perfect features, but it would have been a waste. She settled for tearing a few of the stupid things down as she walked by.

Aeris tried not to think about General Sephiroth too often, although it was impossible to avoid his image completely. She knew Zack thought highly of the man, and that reminders of her dislike made him unhappy. To Zack, the ShinRa Company stood for innovation, integrity, and hope; they literally brought light to dark places, liberating people from dependence on coal and oil. They had the market cornered on heroes. But Zack, Aeris couldn’t help but think, was too honest for his own good: his tendency to see the best in everyone made him a poor judge of character, and his innate trust in the goodness of others tended to cause trouble for him.

Aeris hadn’t spent the last ten years under the watchful eye of the Turks for nothing. She could be suspicious enough for the both of them. No matter what Zack said, she was sure there was something off about that Sephiroth guy.

There was something off about his fans, too, she thought, as a flash of silver hair across the street caught her attention. Cosplayers. Imagine dressing up as Sephiroth, with his ridiculous hair and boots and cape, and wandering around under the plate, completely unprotected! The guy didn’t even have a gun, let alone a sword! If a monster attacked him, he would deserve what he got. 

Aeris sent a casual but sincere prayer to any higher power listening that that idiot get pickpocketed and learn better sense – better pickpocketed than killed, after all, and she wouldn’t wish death on anyone – but she had more important things to do than sit around watching to see if her wish was granted. It was time to get back to her garden.

 

* * *

 

It hadn’t been too long ago that Sephiroth could have honestly said that he had never once been driven to distraction. Just a year ago, everything in his life had been so different; and yet even now, in a way it was just the same as it had always been. He was still just as busy with his work, for all the war was over; he was still a man of few acquaintances and fewer friends (although even fewer friends now than a year ago); he still lived and died by the will of President ShinRa and the Science Department.

He had never before had the dubious honor of Zack Fair treating his office like a personal lounge area. Sephiroth couldn’t help but wonder if this was normal Zack behavior, or if it was a sign of Zack’s own stress beginning to affect his behavior.

Zack was sprawled out on Sephiroth’s office couch, playing a videogame on his PHS. Or at least, with the high number of keystrokes Zack was producing, Sephiroth assumed he was playing a videogame; Sephiroth had never received an email or text message from Zack, and had never heard of him sending one to anyone else. He was notoriously bad at maintaining official lines of contact.

He always managed to communicate in his own way, though. “Something on your mind, boss?” the First asked now, casually.

“Hardly,” Sephiroth replied. He was not as good at Zack as verbal communication, and felt no particular need to change.

“So you’re just staring at me cause I’m pretty, then?”

“No.” As a matter of fact, he hadn’t realized he was staring at all. Although now that Zack mentioned it, there was something on his mind...

“Are you saying I’m _not_ pretty?” Zack pushed. He had lowered his PHS, and now offered Sephiroth such a look of false offense Sephiroth couldn’t help but smile.

“You’re at least the fourth-prettiest man I’ve ever met, Zack,” he offered magnanimously, hoping it would sound like a joke. Sephiroth had never quite got the hang of joking.

Zack’s look of offense transformed into outrage. “You’re officially uninvited to my birthday party! Asshole! _Fourth-prettiest_ ,” he muttered.

Well, so much for that. Perhaps a change of subject was in order. Maybe Sephiroth could even screw up enough courage to ask Zack what was really on his mind. “Zack, you have a girlfriend, correct?”

“Are you for real right now, boss? I only tell you about her like a million times a day. And then you tell me to stop mooning and get back to work. It’s like our routine or something. Remember?”

“How did you convince her to go out with you?”

“What, so now I’m only fourth prettiest _and_ the kind of guy no one would ever agree to date? You’re not pulling any punches today!” Zack laughed.

“I’m serious, Zack.”

Zack paused and gave him an odd, searching look. Ugh. Zack was an idiot but he could be surprisingly perceptive. Maybe asking him hadn’t been the best idea after all.

“Is there someone you want to ask out, boss?”

Busted. He might as well go all-in, then. “There’s a girl I’ve been seeing around lately. She seems... kind.” Actually, she kind of made Sephiroth feel like a stalker, but it wasn’t like he was hunting her down on purpose. She was pretty, though, not that Sephiroth really knew the difference; she knew how to handle herself, she seemed to get along well with most people – well, she was running a business, so Sephiroth supposed it was part of the job description, but it would suit him to have a partner who understood people better than he did – and she always smelled nice. That was a big plus.

“You’ve ‘seen her around?’ Does she work in the building?”

“No. I think she lives under the plate.”

“When were _you_ last under the plate?”

Sephiroth shifted uncomfortably. He wasn’t good with emotions, but even he could tell Zack was struggling with what had happened. He had been going out of his way to find little things to brighten Zack’s day, a gesture completely insufficient given the extent of the damage, but it made him feel like he was doing _something_ , at least. Even if it just reinforced how inadequate he was as a friend.

Something about knowing how useless his efforts were made him want to keep his actions a secret, though. Zack didn’t know what Sephiroth had been doing, and Sephiroth wanted to keep it that way.

“I had a few errands to run,” Sephiroth offered in a tone that he hoped was nonchalant.

“So what are you asking me, again?”

‘How do you get someone to date you’ was on the tip of Sephiroth’s tongue, but it sounded so childish and idiotic. “How do you... go about expressing romantic interest. In someone.”

“Ask if you can buy her dinner,” Zack said immediately. “Or lunch. Or coffee. Food is a great first date.”

Sephiroth wondered for about the hundredth time that day if Zack was fucking with him. “Surely there’s more to it than that.”

“Well, yeah, sure, if you hit it off. But you can deal with that when it happens, after she agrees to spend some time with you first.”

The advice Zack offered seemed so practical and straightforward Sephiroth couldn’t fault it, and he wondered if there was some obvious flaw that he would only understand when it was too late. He hoped not. That flower girl... he really wanted to get to know her.

“I suppose...”

Zack grinned at him. “Aw man, this is great! I’m seriously happy for you, boss. And if things work out, we can double!”

“Double?”

“Go on a double-date. You and your girl, me and Aer. It’ll be so much fun!”

Sephiroth wasn’t sure if Zack was pranking him or if the man honestly thought it was a good idea to inflict Sephiroth on his beloved girlfriend. Well, Zack had proven he was capable of extreme idiocy... and he did get along with everyone. Maybe he just hadn’t noticed how bad Sephiroth was with most people.

“Sure,” he heard himself agree. “If she says it’s ok.”

Zack just smiled. “Who wouldn’t want to go out with you? Heck, if you asked me out to dinner, I wouldn’t say no!”

“Sorry,” Sephiroth said mildly. “I only give out those invitations to people who make top-three prettiest lists. How about delivery instead?” 

“So you won’t have to be seen in public with the likes of me, you mean?” Zack grumbled. “Fine, but since you asked, you get to pay. And I think I’m feeling _extra_ hungry tonight.”

 

* * *

 

That Sephiroth cosplayer was everywhere Aeris turned lately. She had caught sight of him picking up takeout from a Gongagan restaurant she had never noticed until Zack insisted on taking her there (he knew the menu like the back of his hand, and proclaimed the place authentic, not that Aeris would know the difference). She saw him exchanging coupons at the pharmacy, and visiting the perfume maker. Given his masculine presentation, that last made her wonder if he had a girlfriend, and then if there was anyone idiotic enough to want to date a guy who wandered around casually dressed as General Sephiroth.

He didn’t even accurately represent the costume; everyone knew Sephiroth used that ridiculously long, skinny sword, but Aeris had seen this idiot taking on local slum monsters using what looked like a standard-issue ShinRa blade. She wondered if he was SOLDIER after all, and if dressing up as his commanding officer made him feel stronger or something.

Aeris resolved to ask Zack about it, and her chance arose the next time she saw him. Zack had been giving her his standard rundown of ‘everything that happened in my life since the last time I saw you.’ As usual, most of it seemed to be fighting monsters and doing his damndest to distract Sephiroth from the everyday stresses of their lives.

“...and he just sprung it on me out of nowhere! I couldn’t believe it! I mean, I’m happy for him, of course, but – Sephiroth, liking a girl? Where did _that_ come from?” he laughed.

“He does seem sort of... standoffish,” Aeris supplied delicately. She was still anti-Sephiroth, and Zack was still adamantly trying to convince her they would get along.

“He just doesn’t know what to do with himself, I think,” Zack said. “It’s not like he’s against people or anything, he tolerates me pretty well. He just doesn’t usually seek people out on his own, which is why I was surprised.”

Aeris was privately sure that Sephiroth had less tolerance for Zack than he suspected, and that his constantly forcing himself on the General had only not resulted in a skewering by sheer dumb luck. Zack had dumb luck in spades.

“Anyway, he asked me for advice about how to ask her out, which I gave him, and then I said I hope things work out so we can all go on a double date!”

Aeris stiffened. “Zack...”

“Seriously, Aeris, I know SOLDIER and ShinRa makes you nervous and everything, but you like me well enough, right? And Sephiroth is a really good guy! You just have to give him a chance.”

“Does it really matter?” she asked, knowing it wouldn’t make a difference even as she tried. Zack’s face fell. “I just mean – he has plenty of fans already, surely it doesn’t matter if I don’t like him.”

Zack laughed out loud. “I don’t think Sephiroth really appreciates those Silver Elite ladies, you know. They’re kind of weird, actually... not like my fan club.” As usual, he beamed at the thought of having a fan club. It was so difficult to argue with Zack. “You know, I think I’m the only one he really talks to.”

Aeris chose to ignore that. She wasn’t in the business of feeling sorry for Sephiroth. “It’s not just ladies in his fan clubs, you know,” she said, seeing her opportunity to ask about that weirdo she kept seeing around. “There’s this guy I keep seeing around everywhere lately–”

“Oh! That reminds me,” Zack interrupted in excitement. “That ‘everywhere lately’ comment, remember how I told you all that stuff kept showing up in my office? Like, my paperwork was taken care of, and coupons for the pharmacy appear on my desk, and fake flowers – I know, but they came with a perfume so they at least smell flowery, and with my schedule I wouldn’t be able to enjoy them, let alone keep them alive if they were real – and takeout from that place I love? You remember we went to that place, right? I found out recently it was Sephiroth doing all that for me! He was doing it in secret because he wanted it to be a surprise for me! You know how I love surprises. So you see, he’s not such a bad guy after all!”

Aeris, ready to tell Zack off for interrupting her, paused. Sephiroth... had been going around doing Zack’s work for him, finding things he might like, and secretly gifting him with things that might make him smile? She hadn’t put it together before now, but Zack had been mentioning these mystery gifts, and they had started appearing around the same time Aeris had first seen that cosplayer idiot...

Was that guy... actually the real Sephiroth?

Sephiroth, the Silver General, the Demon of Wutai, the scourge of ShinRa; was it possible he was also Sephiroth, lonely friend of Zack, socially stunted but doing his best, floundering through his first crush?

Aeris took a deep breath. She knew a lot more about the ShinRa Company than she could tell Zack, but he knew a different side of ShinRa than she did, too. Maybe she could give it a try.

“If you say so, Zack,” she allowed finally, feeling like she was signing away her soul. Aeris Gainsborough, agreeing to a meeting with Sephiroth of ShinRa. She never thought she’d see the day. 

Zack, of course, just smiled at her like he’d always known he would talk her around eventually.  

 

* * *

 

Sephiroth had been wandering the slums for less than fifteen minutes when he caught the scent he was looking for, but it had been nearly half an hour since then of him very awkwardly pretending from across the street that he hadn’t been looking for her at all.

Today was the day. He had been catching sight of the slum girl all over Midgar (although never above the plates) and today, he was finally going to approach her.

Sephiroth had to know where she was getting those flowers.

It wasn’t that they were contraband, or even unpleasant; on the contrary, whiffs of their pleasant fragrance seemed to seek him out everywhere he went, and Sephiroth felt almost calmed by them and the knowledge they brought that the girl was nearby. But he knew for a fact nothing grew in Midgar, not anymore; not except in ShinRa Tower, where the air was painstakingly purified and the soil was shipped in from a distance.

From across the street, the girl looked up – right at him. Their gazes locked. Unaccountably, Sephiroth felt himself begin to blush.

He was probably glaring at her, damnit.

Well, she wasn’t going to come to him. Squaring his shoulders, he straightened and marched across the street to meet her.

“Hello,” he said sternly.

Her eyes darted quickly away and then back. “Um, hi?” she replied cautiously. Right. He had been staring intensely at her for a while; it was natural that she would be nervous.

Sephiroth loomed over her, not sure what to do next. Introductions? No, she almost certainly knew who he was already. (Everyone did.) Flirting? That would be Zack’s way, surely, but for the life of him Sephiroth couldn’t think of what to say.

“Can I... help you?” the girl asked awkwardly.

Sephiroth was no more prepared for his blush this time than the last, and he felt his glare intensifying. Not wanting to alarm her, he transferred his gaze to the flowers in the basket on her arm.

“Did you want to buy some flowers?”

Yes. Flowers. Perfect, they could definitely talk about that!

“How much for...” God, he couldn’t even finish a sentence.

“Five gil for one or thirty-five for the whole basket,” the girl responded promptly, adding, “The basket’s a good deal.”

He was sure even buying a basket-worth of single flowers would be a good deal at a price like that. Where on earth did she get them? “I’ll take the basket,” he said, finally finding his voice. He hoped he didn’t sound too gruff.

The flower girl smiled. “Thirty-five gil, then.”

Sephiroth, halfway through reaching for the basket, paused. He didn’t have any cash. “Do you... take PHS transfers?”

The flower girl laughed outright. “If that’s the opening overture to an attempt at haggling, it’s absolutely the worst one I’ve ever heard. Cash or bust, mister.”

Sephiroth sighed. “I’m sorry, I don’t have any cash on me.”

The flower girl arched an eyebrow at him. “Surely a tough guy like you isn’t worried about pickpockets?”

Sephiroth had no idea how to answer that. Was she calling him weak? Stupid? (He probably had been, turning up down here without any cash on his person.)

“I don’t carry a wallet at all,” he said, matter-of-fact. “So it would be impossible for someone to pick one from my pocket.”  

The girl stared at him in mild confusion. “You do know you need money to pay for things like flowers, though, right?” she asked, as though he was a small child or incompetent.

Although he was intimidating, Sephiroth was aware that when it came to interacting with strangers, he was out of his element. He muddled through, usually relying on his status with ShinRa to convince people to give him what he needed. In times like these, he had only one fallback: What Would Zack Do?

“How about dinner instead?” Shit, where had that come from? That was almost suave!

This time the flower girl didn’t seem to know how to respond, and it was her turn to blush. Sephiroth couldn’t help but think she looked quite pretty.

“As far as haggling goes, that’s a significant improvement,” she muttered, looking anywhere but at him. “But,” she glanced up and met his eyes, “I’m sorry, I actually have a boyfriend.”

“Oh.” Of course she did. “I – I’ll go–” he turned, embarrassed and desperate to escape, but she caught his sleeve.

“Wait.” She smiled and held something out for him, but he was locked in her gaze, so he wasn’t sure what it was. “At least take a flower. On me.” 


	2. Chapter 2

Aeris was furious. She paced up and down the central aisle of her church in her agitation, wanting nothing more than to sit calmly in the glow let in by the Zack-shaped hole in her ceiling and absorb the peace of the flowers, but knowing she wouldn’t be able to in her current state.

She couldn’t get the encounter out of her head. Sephiroth, of all people, showing up on her corner, standing around staring at her like – like – she had no idea. Why _had_ he just stood around staring at her, like some kind of creepy stalker? And then he had finally approached her, with his stupid bare chest and his stupid silver hair and his stupid leather pants like some kind of gothic twelve-year-old’s wet dream, approached her and asked her to dinner.

How could he!

Her thoughts tumbled over one another, her mind hardly having time to focus on one offense before she remembered another. And what was Zack’s part in all this? It seemed ridiculous to think Sephiroth would approach her on his own; far more likely Zack had orchestrated the whole thing, to what purpose she had no idea. She had trusted Zack, and he had – he had –

He had walked through the church doors behind her, cool as you please. She whirled on him. “You!” she shouted, pointing a finger at him dramatically.

“Me!” he called back happily, running down the aisle to grab her up in a hug and spin her around. She pushed his shoulders to get him to let go, debating whether she ought to slap him.

“How dare you!” she yelled, shoving her finger in his face. He went cross-eyed for a moment following it, and then focused on her, cocking his head to the side in a perfect image of innocent confusion.

“Uh oh, what have I done now?” he asked genially. “I _know_ I didn’t step on your flowers.”

“You’re pretending _not to know_?” she demanded, practically spitting like a viper, arms akimbo. What was his deal?! He had obviously set her up, there was no other explanation!

“I’m really, really sorry,” he said sincerely. The look in his eyes was decidedly apologetic. Aeris was not appeased. “Look, could you spell it out for me? Give me a chance to make it right. Please?”

She was weak to his begging. He made that face like a kicked puppy, and she couldn’t help but forgive him. But not this time! She was resolute. “Did you or did you not send your friend to test my loyalty to you?!” she demanded.

Zack looked genuinely shocked. “I did _what?_ ”

“You sent Sephiroth to ask me out to see if I’d cheat on you behind your back!” she yelled. “He used the worst pickup lines in existence and didn’t even pay for the flowers he promised to buy! What happened to ‘Midgar full of flowers, wallet full of money,’ huh?!”

Aeris didn’t mention that she had ended up giving one of her flowers away to him. She still wasn’t sure why she had. Sephiroth had seemed so sincerely sorry about not being able to buy them, and had approached her so awkwardly, she had been caught wrong-footed. But there was no way _the_ Sephiroth could possibly have decided to ask her out, out of all the people in Midgar: far more likely Zack had come up with this convoluted scheme to see if she could be tempted and pressured Sephiroth into it, not realizing how obnoxious it was for both of them.

Aeris would prefer not to think about how close she had come to being tempted. She had always assumed those posters were photoshopped. How could anyone truly be so _pretty_?

Zack held up his hands in what she assumed was intended to be a placating gesture. She did not feel placated. “Wait, wait, back up,” Zack said. “ _Sephiroth_ asked you out? _You_?”

Aeris fumed. He didn’t have to sound so shocked! After all, Zack himself had asked Aeris out, at one point. But she yelled, “At your request!”

“Ah...”

“You’re not denying it?” she glared, daring him to dig his hole deeper.

“Well, I _did_ tell him to ask out the girl he liked,” Zack said, rubbing the back of his head and chuckling awkwardly. “I didn’t know it was you, though. He never said.”

Aeris stared at him in disbelief.

“That reminds me, the guys are all ragging me about not really having a girlfriend, so we should take a picture together,” Zack went on, oblivious to Aeris’ continued rage. “I think my phone can take pictures... if I can figure it out...”

“You’re not seriously telling me Sephiroth has a crush on _me_ ,” Aeris said, interrupting Zack’s inspection of his PHS. There was no way that could be possible. Sephiroth was... _Sephiroth_!

Zack looked up, surprised again. “Why not? You’re a total babe.” He winked, and Aeris flushed hotly.

“You’re not out of the doghouse yet, mister,” she replied warningly, trying to hide her blush. “You seriously didn’t set this up?”

“Well, like I said, I did encourage him to ask you out. I just didn’t know it was gonna be you.” A thought seemed to occur to Zack suddenly, and he paled. “Wait, you didn’t agree to go out with him, did you?”

Aeris’ blush came back full-force. “Of course not! I told him I have a boyfriend.” All of a sudden, though, she couldn’t meet Zack’s eyes; she was thinking about the odd tingly feeling that had fluttered in her heart for a moment when Sephiroth had so awkwardly tried to woo her, and then had suddenly asked her to dinner with an unexpected burst of confidence; about the way his shoulders filled out his coat, broad and sturdy; how soft and smooth his hair looked, even though she knew from experience it was surely unmanageable. At the time, she had been confused and angry – he was Zack’s friend, surely he would know she knew about his friendship with Zack, surely he would know she would recognize him and know what he was doing – but looking back on it now, she felt kind of bad. And knowing now that he had been sincere, that fluttery feeling in her heart seemed to swell.

She glanced up at Zack, who was watching her patiently, a hopeful, eager look on his face. He hadn’t noticed her miniature freak-out, then. “So... we’re good?” he asked, almost casual.

She smiled, but her head was still spinning. “We’re good,” she said reassuringly, but privately she wondered. She loved Zack, of course, and she wanted to be with him. But she had never thought... She mentally shook her head, as if that would clear it. She was with Zack now, and that was all that mattered.

“Great!” he grinned. “Then, just to square all this away and make sure there are no more awkward feelings for anyone, why don’t we all go out to dinner together so I can introduce you two properly? My girlfriend and my best friend.” 

Aeris stared, seriously wondering if there might not actually be something wrong with her boyfriend’s brain. She adored Zack, but boy could he be an idiot sometimes. And yet... she couldn’t manage to say no. Sighing, she offered an awkward smile and a shrug of assent. This would be interesting.

 

* * *

 

Sephiroth was approximately ninety seven percent sure that this was the most awkward dinner he had ever had the displeasure of attending. It certainly beat out other top contenders, including ShinRa executive events, dinners during the Wutai surrender talks, and more he didn’t care to remember. Hell, eating MREs was preferable to eating dinner at this fancy, fussy restaurant with his best friend and his best friend’s girlfriend, the girl he had accidentally asked out.

God, how had he ended up here?

Zack had seemed so convincingly casual that morning when he waltzed into Sephiroth’s office and draped himself over the couch, nonchalant as anything. Then he said, “So I heard you asked my girlfriend out,” and Sephiroth’s day had gone to hell.

Zack had done an exceptional job of reassuring Sephiroth, laughing off the disaster that had been Sephrioth’s attempt to ask Aeris out, and generally smoothing the man’s ruffled feathers. Sephiroth hadn’t realized, until Zack said so, that his flower girl was in fact _Zack’s_ flower girl; as soon as Zack told him, Sephiroth was convinced he was about to lose his last friend. But Zack had calmly waved off any wrongdoing, reminding Sephiroth over and over that it had been an honest mistake.

Then he dropped the bomb. It turned out Zack’s girlfriend hadn’t reacted quite as well as the Lieutenant to being asked out by ShinRa’s star General, and had accused Zack of setting her up. Zack had apologized profusely and managed to save the relationship, but he was still in the doghouse, so to speak – or so he said. And that was where Sephiroth came in.

Since Sephiroth was at fault, Zack had told him he felt confident Sephiroth would find the courage to set his anxiety aside for one evening and join the couple for dinner. It would give Zack a chance to finally introduce his girlfriend and best friend properly, and clear the air of any lingering awkwardness. Zack, after all, was unfairly caught in the middle.  

So here Sephiroth was, feeling both naked and constrained at once in his civilian-style suit, staring at his plate and trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible at their intimate table for three while Zack kept prodding them both to open up and Aeris barely managed to disguise her hostility, offering one-word answers and glaring at her plate. That’s right... Zack had mentioned she was skittish around the ShinRa Company. What had he been thinking, asking her out?

“...ve you decided what to order?” Zack was asking him, beaming.

Sephiroth hadn’t even glanced at his menu, although now he reflected that was a wasted opportunity, for it would have been the perfect prop to hide behind. (He had been sitting stiffly in his chair for the past several minutes, staring intensely over Zack’s left shoulder. Zack, of course, had given no appearance of minding.)

Flailing now that he was in the spotlight, Sephiroth looked down at the menu and said the first thing his eyes landed on. It was a long word in a foreign language, but Sephiroth didn’t trip. “Linguine... amatriciana.”

“Is that how you say it?” Zack asked brightly. “What is it? I was going to ask the waiter.”

Shit. Sephiroth had no idea; he rarely ate anywhere but the ShinRa cafeteria. When he went to fancy events, the meal was pre-planned. If there were options, red meat was selected for him. He always ate whatever appeared on his plate and didn’t complain.

“It’s a spicy tomato-based sauce with bacon and cheese, I think,” Aeris said, neatly coming to his rescue. He glanced at her gratefully, and she spared him a measuring look in return.

“Oooh, sounds good,” Zack said. “Have you had it before?”

“Elmyra makes it sometimes,” she said simply. Zack must have known who this person was, for he accepted the explanation without further comment; as for Sephiroth, he had no idea. He hoped it was someone Aeris knew well, if she was accepting food from this person.

The waiter appeared at that moment and took their orders. Not having an opinion either way and trying not to look like an idiot, Sephiroth went with the bacon pasta; Zack ordered conchiglie con carbonara like a native speaker, winking at Sephiroth and mouthing “carb fest” as he did; Aeris primly ordered veal parmesan and a side salad.

“I thought you were a vegetarian,” Sephiroth said as the waiter walked away.

Aeris looked at him in confusion, and Sephiroth winced. She had _just_ told him she ate bacon. “...Why?”

“Well, you... sell flowers. So I just thought you liked plants best.”

“What does enjoying growing things have to do with enjoying eating things? I’m a gardener, so I must be a vegetarian?” She seemed offended. Sephiroth mentally kicked himself. His social skills were about as nuanced as a behemoth in a china shop, and he had a sinking suspicion he would only make things worse the longer he kept trying. Still, he had to try.

“I was very impressed with your flower selection. Where do you source them?”

“The flowers you didn’t pay for, you mean?” she said testily. Damn. Maybe it was time for a strategic retreat. Sephiroth was a little confused, though – he had thought that flower she handed him was a gift. “I grow them myself.”

Wait. What? “In Midgar?”

“Outside my house, yes. In my garden.” She said it slowly, as if he was simple. Maybe he was.

“Do you grow vegetables, too?”

“...No. It’s a flower garden.”

Zack was looking back and forth between them with a look that was quickly leaving the realms of ‘laughing off awkwardness’ and approaching ‘change the subject immediately.’ Sephiroth decided to turn the conversation back to her business. His first compliment had failed, but that didn’t mean they were out entirely! He could do this. He would make friends with Aeris. For Zack.

“So you only sell flowers?”

“Did you see me hauling anything else around?”

“I’m just surprised you’ve been successful with such a specific inventory. You must be a very good businessperson, not to have felt the need to diversify your inventory more thoroughly. You could make a killing off of fresh vegetables in Midgar, if you could really get them to grow,” he said seriously.

“Thanks for the business advice,” she said savagely. “And how diversified is _your_ inventory? Do you have any skills at all, besides subjugating foreign nations?”

“Excuse me? I’m a world-class diplomat, for one thing,” Sephiroth said, suddenly angry, himself. He kept his voice calm, though. No diplomat would raise their voice in a negotiation, and befriending Aeris was proving to be a political maneuver every bit as complicated as securing peace with Wutai.

Zack snorted softly, and Sephiroth sent a glare his way. He could at least try to help! This stupid dinner had been his idea!

“Right. I’m sure your _diplomacy_ was much appreciated in Wutai,” she said venomously.

“It was, once Emperor Godo decided staking his country on defeating ShinRa was a suicide mission. I was instrumental in assisting to draw up the ensuing peace documentation. In case you missed it, that war ended,” he added.

“And our hero has returned home,” she said sweetly, and abruptly stood from the table. “Please excuse me,” she said, glancing meaningfully at Zack as she stalked away.

Zack let out a whoosh of air, and Sephiroth realized he must have been holding his breath. “Dude,” he said, looking at Sephiroth with an expression the General couldn’t decipher. It looked like a mix of ‘you messed up’ and ‘what were you thinking’ and... pity?

“What did I say?” Sephiroth asked. He was half-convinced _he_ should have been the one to stalk away from the table in righteous indignation (if that’s what that had been).

“If you don’t know, it really doesn’t matter. Just go apologize. _Now_.”

“For _what_? I don’t understand how I upset her. Do you?” he asked, suddenly suspicious. Could Zack put his social knowledge into words, or did he operate on intuition?

“You made a bunch of random assumptions about her life and projected your expectations onto her and then insulted her business sense. She’s a successful entrepreneur and a heck of a smart lady, and she doesn’t need you to explain to her how she should live her life. And... she’s a pacifist and doesn’t approve of the war with Wutai. Her adopted mom lost her husband, you know.”

Oh. So it definitely wasn’t just intuition, then.

“Seriously dude, go apologize,” Zack said, for once in his life sounding deadly serious.

“How?”

Zack sighed. “Tell her you’re sorry? Say you didn’t mean to offend her, and make sure to let her know you know you’re an idiot? Get going! If she gets back before you go after her, there will be no fixing it.”

Sephiroth was certain that he would rather hide in a Hobo House than repair his relationship with Aeris if repairing it meant more evenings spent like this. Unfortunately, he was equally sure that Zack would make himself intolerable if Sephiroth refused to try to get along with his girlfriend, so he went.

Only... where had she gone?

Sephiroth paused in confusion a few steps from their table, unsure where to even begin looking for her. In his relief at her ending that terrible conversation by leaving, he hadn’t watched her go. It seemed like such an obvious oversight now.

“Try the bathrooms,” Zack’s voice came from behind him. He glanced over his shoulder, and Zack pointed towards a far corner of the room. Right. The bathrooms. Ok.

Sephiroth had half-formed a plan to wait for her outside, but when he arrived, he saw the establishment boasted a single multi-stall unisex bathroom. If she was in there, he could go in and confirm; if not, it was still better to confirm than stand around waiting. He took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

Sephiroth hadn’t known until that moment that a person could wash their hands angrily, but that’s what Aeris was doing, glaring at her reflection in the mirror. She glanced at him and froze, but only for a moment; then she was turning off the tap and drying her hands. “What do you want?” she asked, sounding quite annoyed to have been interrupted. Or just to see him there. Who knew.

“I came to apologize,” Sephiroth tried.

“You don’t even know what you did,” Aeris said, quite astutely, he thought. Sephiroth knew his lack of social skills was pretty much immediately apparent to anyone he said more than two sentences to, but he was a seasoned strategist. People usually assumed he understood what was going on and just didn’t care enough to be delicate. Aeris seemed to realize he was flailing.

“I offended you,” Sephiroth offered, sticking to Zack’s advice to the letter.

Aeris sighed. “Fine. I accept your apology. Please step aside so I can leave.”

“I would appreciate it if you could offer me your forgiveness,” Sephiroth said. It was probably asking too much, and he would almost certainly end up insulting her again, but he had to try. He needed them to get past this, for Zack’s sake.

“What for? As far as you know, you haven’t really done anything wrong. Maybe I’m just overly sensitive. You’re blocking the door.”

Sephiroth stood his ground. “Zack explained to me where I went wrong. I may not... really understand it,” he said, opting for brutal honesty. It was his last-resort fall back, but it had gotten him out of sticky situations before. “But my lack of understanding doesn’t invalidate your feelings. If I stepped on your foot accidentally and broke it, I would still be at fault, even if the damage wasn’t intentional.”

“Ok. Thank you. If that’s all?”

It was Sephiroth’s turn to sigh. Then he took a deep breath, and jumped off the metaphorical cliff. “Look, I know I have no right to stand here and ask this of you,” he began. “I know I’ve only shown you what an... idiot I can be, again and again, when you already had reason to dislike me. But Zack is my best... my only friend. All I have is my work and that boy sitting out there, and I can’t lose him. And I know you’re as important to him as he is to me, and I’m asking you, when I know I don’t have a leg to stand on, to please forgive me and try to cut me some slack and get along for his sake. Please.”

Somehow he had drawn closer to her as he spoke; he was no longer blocking the door. She could go around him, leave without saying anything. He would deserve it.

She glanced away, shifting her weight back almost hesitantly, and then met his gaze again. He tried to look earnest. “I wish you hadn’t invoked Zack’s name,” she said, and Sephiroth breathed a sigh of relief. Like him, she couldn’t stand to see Zack hurt. So they were good then, he thought, and smiled at her hopefully.

And as if that was some kind of secret signal, she sighed and closed the gap between them, pressing her body against his and their lips together in a searing kiss.

It was as passionate as their argument earlier had been, and Sephiroth was caught off-guard by the suddenness of her assault, but he recovered quickly. Hardly sparing a moment to think about what they were doing or what it could mean – for them, for Zack, oh God, what about Zack – he dove in, grabbing her hips and pulling her tighter against his body, grinding against her and doing his best to keep up with her kiss.

Her tongue lapped gently against his lips, and then darted quickly in and out of his mouth a few times, tantalizingly. When it left, his followed after it almost without conscious thought; as soon as it was inside her mouth, she trapped it there, sucking gently and massaging it with own tongue as he explored.

He let out a low moan and turned to press her against the bathroom wall, and hiked a leg up to wrap around his hips. One of his hands slid down under her thigh to offer support, while the other snuck under her shirt, caressing the soft skin of her stomach and sides on its way up to cup and massage a pert breast.

Sephiroth was making out with his best friend’s girlfriend, and he had no idea how he’d gotten into this position, but damn if he wasn’t enjoying it. She even smelled amazing – like fresh flowers at dawn, as Zack had once put it. Sephiroth hadn’t known how right he was until this moment. For God’s sake, stop thinking about Zack.

Aeris’ hands made their own way under his shirt, and her fingers stroked their way over his abs, around his sides, up his back and over his shoulders. She was panting and moaning against him, and at some point she had wrapped her other leg around his hips so he was supporting her against the bathroom wall while she ground her crotch against his. Her hands dropped to his fly and dispatched his button and zip with ruthless efficiency before sneaking inside to grab and stroke –

The bathroom door banged open and they froze.

A middle-aged woman walked in, looked them over, and said calmly, “I can come back,” before leaving with a wink.

Aeris shoved Sephiroth away as she slid off him to the ground, tugging at her clothes to straighten them. She turned to the mirror and was already touching up her minimal makeup before Sephiroth had gathered the presence of mind to zip and button his fly and begin tucking his shirt back into his trousers for a semblance of propriety. He hated shirts.

What... what the hell had just happened?

“So...” he trailed off; his best effort at asking, apparently.

Aeris glanced at him in her reflection. “Go back to the table. Don’t say anything to Zack. I’ll be along.”

Sephiroth’s brows knit in confusion. Did that mean... this was ok? He wasn’t allowed to ask his friend’s girlfriend out, but he could make out with her in the bathroom while said friend held their table at a posh restaurant?

But she had said not to tell Zack. So was this wrong? If they had to keep it a secret... Could Sephiroth really do that to Zack? See Aeris behind his back, under his nose? Would... would she ever want to see him again? Did he?

Well. The answer to that one, at least, was obvious. Sephiroth definitely wanted to see Aeris again.

There was no point in wondering about what would come next now. He would find Aeris later, privately... hopefully somewhere very private... and figure out what to do. She had started it, anyway; as far as Sephiroth was concerned, she was in charge. She would know how to make it work, with Zack, and everything else. She had to.

But if she tried to tell him that one encounter was all he would get, he would fight. There was no way he would give her up now, having tasted her once.

Sephiroth made his way back to the table and sank into his chair. Their food hadn’t been delivered yet. Zack quirked an eyebrow at him, obviously still worried about their spat from earlier – had it really been just minutes ago? It felt like a lifetime.

 Sephiroth offered Zack a weak smile and a nod. Whatever had happened with Aeris, he thought he could be sure, at least, that she wasn’t angry with him anymore. Everything else would remain to be seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual with these exchanges I have no idea if this is a reasonable or adequate submission :/ 
> 
> I did my best, though, and I hope you enjoy it! Thank you so much for the wonderful prompt, I had fun!


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